OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:00 AM – Monday, October 27, 2025
A U.S. Navy destroyer docked in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday as the Trump administration expands its military presence in the Caribbean, part of an ongoing effort to increase pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, was announced by the Trinidadian government, which confirmed the ship is docked in Port of Spain.
U.S. officials said the visit is intended for joint training exercises with Trinidad and Tobago’s defense forces, focusing on countering transnational crime and supporting regional security and humanitarian efforts.
The USS Gravely, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, is expected to remain docked in Trinidad and Tobago until Thursday, when U.S. Marines and local defense forces are scheduled to conduct joint training exercises focused on maritime security and counter-narcotics operations.
The destroyer is operating in coordination with the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group, which has moved closer to Venezuelan waters as part of a broader U.S. military presence in the region.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has described the deployment as a means to deter transnational crime and apply diplomatic pressure on Maduro.
U.S. officials have also accused Maduro’s government of enabling narcotics trafficking networks operating from within Venezuela. In recent months, U.S. forces carried out strikes against vessels identified as drug-smuggling operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Last Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared footage on social media showing a U.S. strike on a narco-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, warning that smugglers “will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere.”
“Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice,” Hegseth added.
Senator Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) noted on Sunday that land strikes in Venezuela are a “real possibility,” further suggesting that the GOP administration will seek to induce regime change.
“I think President Trump’s made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug, drug trafficker, that it’s time for him to go, that Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narco-terrorists for too long, and President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia,” Graham stated.
Graham also dismissed concerns regarding the president receiving congressional approval to carry out military operations against Venezuela. He cited former President George H.W. Bush’s Panama invasion in 1989, which occurred without any congressional approval.
“Bush 41 went into Panama to replace the leadership there, because the Panama leadership, Panamanian leadership, were working with drug cartels to threaten our country,” he continued. “This is not murder. This is protecting America from being poisoned by narco-terrorists coming from Venezuela and Colombia.”
In response, Maduro condemned the move, accusing the United States of “fabricating a new eternal war” which could destabilize the entire region.
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid,” Maduro stated on Friday. “They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal, and totally fake one.”
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